CompuCom's Windows Server 2003 Migration Approach and Services

Microsoft will end support for Windows Server 2003/R2 on July 14, 2015. Now is the time to migrate. Delaying will only create additional expenses, and ‘rigging’ your environments to detect intrusion, inclusion of more advanced firewalls, network segmentation, and so on, to simply isolate Windows Server 2003 servers will only result in a datacenter that costs more, and is still out of compliance, and out of date. Not to mention the maintenance costs for aging hardware… you’re just delaying your opportunity to transform.

This is also an opportunity to simplify your data center. You can create a datacenter without boundaries—where you can extend beyond the resources you have on-premises to more easily use cloud resources when you need them. Rapidly build new global-scale applications or websites. Scale infrastructure at a moment’s notice to meet the most demanding business requirements. And reduce the cost of storage, backup, and recovery.

CompuCom provides comprehensive solutions to help at each stage of your Windows Server 2003 migration journey.Migrating your enterprise to a modern Microsoft Windows operating system is a complex process that can strain IT resources. The strategic value to efficient Windows migration is application, hardware and deployment readiness. There are many different approaches to server migration, and Dell has the systems and expertise to determine the most efficient approach for each workload. CompuCom leverages industry leading tools and proven practices to help ensure migration readiness. Our end-to-end solution leverages the power of CompuCom’s services, the power of the cloud, and hardware and software from top partners including HP, Cisco, Dell, Intel, and Lenovo.

CompuCom offers flexible solutions in which all components are available stand-alone or combined as an integrated utility encompassing bandwidth, hardware, managed services, maintenance services, and professional services across the entire spectrum of network requirements.

Discover – We leverage the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit to gather data across the server farm. Data is then reviewed for an initial compatibility status. In addition, we gather license entitlement information, application availability SLAs, application owner names, and hardware support/warranty information. We’ll then cross-reference this data with any customer-supplied inventory lists.

Assess – During this phase we focus on determining the fastest, most effective migration approach for each application and workload. Rationalization occurs for both the hardware and software to determine areas of reduction, upgrades, and transformations. Dependencies and prerequisites by application and workload are mapped. Minimum hardware specifications for any re-deployable hardware, and what systems can be re-deployed with reasonable hardware upgrades, are determined. Areas for application transformations and infrastructure consolidation are identified. Target – Determine the target environment, be it physical, virtual, private cloud, or public cloud, for each workload. Develop migration solutions on an application-by-application basis. Review migration solutions with application owners and incorporate feedback. Finalize migration solution options and document. Test and remediate application compatibility issues, up to and including modernization of application code. Develop and communicate application support structure to be used during migration waves.

Migrate – Implement migration solutions in a phased-with approach to mitigate loss of service and impact to the organization. Automate the migration process by building an optimized and automated task sequence, including the base OS, foundational services, and configuration. Establish application support structure and validate migration activities. Work with the client to execute UAT on migrated applications. Provide post-migration support based on contract requirements. Decommission legacy hardware and either re-deploy or release for disposal.

Data Center & Virtualization

Clouds

The rapid adoption of virtualization and cloud technologies by IT organizations has been remarkable. It has ushered in one of the most profound changes in technology architecture since the introduction of client-server computing. These new computing models have also helped to address some of the most pressing challenges faced by CIOs over last two decades, including: